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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

"The piano towered over everything. It seemed so massive, so out of place that you had to squeeze around it, or else crawl underneath the belly of the thing.

But when mom played it, all that did not matter. The walls vanished and so did the clutter, because it was so riveting to watch her. You could see her long, delicate fingers as they went flying over the keys, to the point of turning, magically, into a blur. Her hands became transparent, and her ring, I remember, turned into a glow. She was air, she was music! Even when she stopped playing, those strings inside were still reverberating..."

Going back to his childhood memories, Ben unveils his unflinching admiration to the most important woman in his life, up to this point: his mother, the inspired and inspiring pianist. His admiration will later stand in the way of him accepting her present condition. But for now, it is focused on one aspect: her hands. Long, delicate fingers, a symbol of her talent, and the one physical aspect that serves as a contrast between her and and his father's new wife, Anita. Here is Ben (narrated by the gifted David Kudler) describing his mother's hands:

If your browser wouldn't play it, try this.And here is a quick charcoal sketch I made of her hands dancing in the air. I attempted to impart this same feeling of nobility and inspiration that my text evokes:

I untie my satchel from the saddle, lift the flap, remove my lyre from the top so he can take a good look inside.

“Here,” I say, “take a sniff.”

Eliab seems to swoon at the sight of food, and at once his eyes tear up. It must be more than a simple hunger.

Perhaps it is the memory of the warmth of our kitchen back home, when steam puffs up the dough, just before it cools down to create the air pocket in the center of the bread. Or else, it is the touch he remembers, the touch of my mother’s hand as she sprinkles some sesame seeds all over the top.

I let the flap fall back and at once, the smell of our olive tree is cut off. Eliab grabs the satchel from my hand. I snatch it right back.

“Hand it over,” growls my brother. “Right now, I said, or else.”

“Is it true,” I ask, teasingly, “that the most important qualification of a soldier is endurance?”

“I’ve heard,” I go on, “that the most important wish of a soldier is to die with honor. Is it true? I mean, we’re all destined to die, right? Can a few days of life equal the glory, I mean, the glory of dying for your country?”

“Enough!” he bellows. “I’ve had it with this nonsense! Hell, I’ll die of hunger way before glory comes.”

“Oh, I see! If not for craving a morsel of food, you’re a regular hero,” say I. “Wouldn’t a medal be grand? Or a bit of colored ribbon, perhaps?”

“Enough already,” his voice bursts to an exasperated rasp. “You be careful, or I’ll tell mom about you! If somehow you manage to come out of here alive, I’ll make damn sure she kills you.”

David in Rise to PowerThe excerpt describes David as a young boy, bringing food for his brothers shortly before he is sent out to face Goliath.

"I hear the slight rustle of her skirt, and her soft voice saying, “Wait, Isaac—” just before it becomes muffled. So sharply, so unexpectedly does it happen, that it makes me giddy with curiosity; and so, I do what I have to do: I lift the flap of the tent, allowing light in, to peek in on them; and what I see leaves me dumbfounded.

There she is, kneeling down before him amidst ripples of silk. She wraps her arms around his frail shoulders, draws closely and kisses him, long and full, on his mouth. And then, when she rises up, you can see that his face is confused, and his hand is trembling a little."

In this excerpt Yankle describes his mother Becky, modeled after the biblical figure of Rebecca. Her husband Isaac is lying on his deathbed. He is blind, and waiting for his firstborn son Esav to come back from the hunt, so he can give him the blessing. Becky plots to deceive the old man. In my story, A Favorite Son, she goes into his tent to say her last farewell, and just before sending Jacob in to execute her criminal plan, she kisses her husband. Watching this from a distance, Yankle says:

"I have to wonder: What was that kiss? Her way to say farewell? Was it inspired by some old memory, some image of their younger days—or else, was it designed to make him vulnerable, make him ready for me, just in time for my entrance? I agonize, I puzzle over that kiss. Was it act of love—or of deceit?"

Take a listen to this paragraph read by my gifted narrator, David Kudler:

Although ‘Apart from Love’ is a tale about love it is no romance-novel. More a chronicle of desire. An introspective read that covers, from the view-point of multiple characters some of life’s issues.

Now I won’t go into plot details - They are in the book-blurb. I’m also not going to attempt to bosh out a review in a wordy intellectual way either. I don’t consider myself ‘well-read’ enough. Besides I prefer to speak from an emotional viewpoint. So here goes.

I first read samples of Uvi Poznansky’s work in way of her self-promoted advertisements posted on social media. Initially I was attracted by the richness of her book-cover artwork and then drawn in by the caress of her verse. I found her words possessed a special kind of tenderness. Something I felt my own writing lacked.

I decided I could use a lesson in regard to her rhythmic delivery of contemplative prose. The way she captures subtle nuances in glimpses and reflections. Or teases out emotions with a pause in her dialogue. She fashions both fleshly desire and clean naughtiness so adeptly.

It wasn’t long before I was reading and liking every post.

I particularly like this line from the book...

The waves roll in, threatening to swallow us whole. With a roar in their widening mouth, they are leaping ahead, then lapping the sand angrily, foam on their lip.

‘Apart from Love’ is a leisurely read that allows you to enjoy the moment of actually reading. This is what I get from Uvi Poznansky, what I admire mostly in her work.

When women are romantically depicted, enjoying a piece of chocolate whilst engrossed in a novel. This is exactly the type of stuff they are reading.

Stacy Juba loves to write about Characters at a Crossroads: individuals who are finding themselves and getting on the right life path after overcoming obstacles. I am thrilled that she invited me to talk about one of my characters, David, whom we find at a crossroads:“I lay the armor down at the king’s feet. It is leaning down there against my broken lyre. And a thought crosses my mind: here are the relics I am about to leave behind. Combat gear on one side—my string instrument on the other. Which way will I be remembered? Am I a fighter—or a poet?”To read more of my post on her blog, please click Characters at a Crossroads.

Joan P. Lane is a Jamaican born author of mystery and suspense. Her book, The Tangled Web, is a story of international web of intrigue, nuder, and romance. I am thrilled to find her review of my novel, Rise to Power:

This review is from: Rise to Power (The David Chronicles) (Kindle Edition)

Uvi Poznansky gets another five stars from me, this time for her marvelous portrayal of the Biblical King David. Her David, although fictional, is not the perfect figure sculpted by Michelangelo. Nor is he strictly the David of the Bible. With his human failings, the David she has created is a bit of a departure from the legend.

This book is written as David’s memoir. In it, he tells us that all it took to make him the legend he became was twisting the historical facts to his advantage. David confesses that, in his youth, he was ambitious. He lusted after the crown of Judah, but soon realized a certain amount of clever public relations was required to get it, and hold on to it. He was also concerned with how he would go down in history. So in this fictional memoir, we see not just the musician, poet and youth who killed Goliath, but wily David, the master manipulator. Though David’s actions are motivated not only by ambition, but by the need to survive. For no good reason, the mad King Saul is out to kill him, forcing David to make some tough decisions.

Uvi Poznansky uses modern language (with slang) to tell this story. David says things like hurry up already. At first, such modern terms being dropped into a mid-9th Century BC setting were, to me, a bit lacking in authenticity. The descriptions of some of the women’s clothes also didn’t seem true to the time. But somehow these unexpected elements work together to set the stage for a compelling character who keeps the reader spellbound.

Ruthless soldier and commander, brilliant strategist, gifted musician and inspiring orator, David is also a stud. Every woman wants David who wants them in turn, yet he can hardly keep up with the domestic demands of his wives. No doubt about it, he’s a man who loves wine, women and song, a rogue I couldn’t help falling in love with.

As far as David’s alleged philandering goes, Uvi Poznansky may not have strayed that far from what the Biblical records tell us. David did indeed have eight wives and ten concubines. He had 20 legitimate children and is said to have had even more children with his concubines. That would suggest he was the busy man Ms. Poznansky makes him out to be. Whatever impression the scriptures may have given you of David, you’ll find this book entertaining, thought-provoking, and, in some parts, very amusing. I’m very much looking forward to the sequel.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

"After a while, she stirs. Her hand hangs, for a moment, in midair, a motion designed to reach out to me, and hug me, perhaps, in her own manner. Yet I can see that it is only herself, in the end, that she embraces. “On me your sin,” she smiles sweetly, placing a hand on her breast, where the heart can be found. “Let your curse be on me.”

The sleeve, meanwhile, continues to climb, as if of its own accord, over my shoulder. By now it is covering the entire length of my arm. To my amazement, a part of me seems to have disappeared. Esav’s arm is beginning to take shape in place of mine.

She leans over me and with a sharp eye, threads her needle. But for some reason, we cannot bear to look at each other eye to eye. “Give me one minute, let me mend it,” she says, removed from me, smiling to herself. “We don’t have much time, I’m afraid. Your brother is on the hunt, and so are we.”

I sit there at her feet watching her work. My mother is so skillful in manipulating that sleeve. Inside of it, my limb feels hot, suffocated. I let her control me, control my hand. It is no longer my hand.

By and by, a perfect calm comes upon me. I have no thought in my head, no clue that this is to be the last sunrise, the last morning that I spend with my mother; no premonition that our time together is running out, and that I should kiss her, and hug her, and bid her farewell.

Yet for some reason, glancing around me, I commit to memory every aspect of this scene, every detail: The vivid pattern of the rug, spread across the dirt floor. The embroidered silk pillows, leaning against the woven headrest. The little blemish, barely visible in the corner of the blanket. The silver thread coming apart, at one point, at the bottom of the canvas. The jug of water, half hidden behind the curved leg of the bed.

I can hear little noises: The occasional cry of a newborn baby, searching blindly for his mother’s breast. The light snores of the maidservants, some of whom are just starting to wake up, only to fall asleep again. The yawns of the shepherd boys, stretching their limbs lazily under the sheepskins in the neighboring tents. The unrest of the sheep, the lambs, the kids, the goats, all eager to go out there, to graze in the sun-flooded fields.

Meanwhile the needle flies back and forth, forth and back, over my shoulder, catching the light in its path. I am transfixed. I wish I could stay here forever. This place is so full of charms.

This hour is so intimate; so sweet, and it is fast coming to its bitter conclusion."

Yankle, in A Favorite Son Here a small voice clip out of this excerpt, narrated by the gifted David Kudler:

I have long been fascinated with the story of Jacob and Esav. To me, it captures several layers of emotions which we all go through in our families: a rivalry between brothers, the way a mother’s love, unevenly divided, can spur them to action, to crime, even; and how in time, even in the absence of regret, a punishment eventually ripens.

The story had been brewing in me for several years before I put pen to paper. Being an artist, I had expressed it through sculpture long before I wrote the words. So here you can see Yankle and his mother Becky, plotting to cheat the father. Out of a sense of shame, they are unable to look each other in the eye.

Having been cheated, I found that the character I wish to explore is not the victim of the crime, but rather the perpetrator. What are his motives? Has regret set in? Does he love his father even as he is cheating him? Does he long for the early years when he still had a bond with his twin brother?

I wrote the first chapter, Lentil Stew, and thought I got the story out of my system. But no, Yankle kept chatting it my head, demanding that I record his thoughts. I wrote the second chapter, and the same thing continued to happen. It was not until I wrote the last chapter, The Curse of the Striped Shirt, where I find a ‘poetic justice’ to conclude the story, that Yankle finally fell silent...

So when reading my story, do not seek clear distinction between heroes and villains: no one is wholly sacred, because--like Yankle, the main character here--we are all made of lights and shadows, and most of all, doubt.

Uvi Poznansky is a bestseller, award-winning author, poet and artist. Her boxed set, A TOUCH OF PASSION, has just become the 2016 WINNER of The Romance Reviews Readers' Choice Awards.
“I paint with my pen,” she says, “and write with my paintbrush.” She received a Fellowship grant and a Teaching Assistantship from the Architecture department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she earned her M.A. in Architecture. Then, taking a sharp turn in her education, she earned her M.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of Michigan.

Uvi writes across a variety of genres: Apart From Love and The White Piano (literary fiction), My Own Voice (women's fiction), The Music of Us and Dancing with Air (romance), Rise to Power, A Peek at Bathsheba, and The Edge of Revolt (historical fiction), A Favorite Son (biblical fiction), Home (poetry), Twisted (horror), and Now I Am Paper and Jess and Wiggle (children’s books.)